Navy locates capsized migrants' vessel

dimeji akinloye

May 7, 2015 11:40 PM

The April 18 incident has been described as the worst of its kind in recent history.

The UN refugee agency confirmed 800 migrants died in a shipwreck off Libya on April 18.

The Italian navy on Thursday, May 7, said it has located what it believes is the wreck of a ship that sunk in the Mediterranean Sea with more than 800 migrants on board.

Rescuers have so far recovered just 24 bodies, while some of the ship's 28 survivors said hundreds more had been on board, locked in the hold of the vessel and unable to escape after the capsizing.

"Today, at about 157 kilometres north east of the Libyan coast, a blue 25-metre wreck, which could be matched with the wreck that sunk on April 18, was located at a depth of 375 metres,’’ the navy said in a statement.

The navy has been asked to look for the vessel by prosecutors in Catania, Sicily, who were investigating the incident.

The ship was found using sonar equipment and a remotely operated device from a navy mine hunter.

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dimeji akinloye